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A fire raiser has been jailed for risking the lives of 17 people by setting light to a block of flats where he was about to be evicted.

Connor Hallett told one resident 'I don't like living here' minutes before he lit a fire in his bedsit in the five-storey building above the Royal Clarence pub in Seaton.

The fire caused at least £310,000 damage and left all the 17 other residents homeless three weeks before Christmas. They all escaped unhurt but two needed treatment by paramedics for smoke inhalation.

Hallett, aged 22, had been drinking until the early hours and had crashed his car into a wall before walking home to the flats while covered in blood.

He hammered on the front door until a resident let him in and then went to his flat, where he started the fire on his bed at around 7.30 am on December 2 last year.

Connor Hallett has been jailed for arson

He left the building moments before the smoke alarm in his room set off the alarm in all the other flats and CCTV showed him wandering around Seaton for a minute or so before returning to the building.

He smashed the fire alarm bell in the hallway even though it was already sounding, and then roused some of the other residents.

Hallett was two times over the drink drive limit when a blood sample was taken and tried to blame another youth for the fire by claiming he had been threatened the week before.

Exeter court stories

The fire caused massive disruption in Seaton at the time and the Royal Clarence pub and Boots shop downstairs were closed for three weeks with combined loss of business of £60,000.

The cost of repairs is £250,000 with more work still to be done. None of the residents has been able to return and some needed help from voluntary donations to find and furnish temporary accommodation.

Harbor Road, Seaton (Image: Kerri-Ann Briggs/mywhirlwindworld.co.uk)

Many lost irreplaceable personal valuables including family photographs and only one of the other residents were insured.

Hallett is a former junior angling champion who represented England in the Home International series in 2011 when he was 14.

He had been living in a first floor flat since February but had received two warnings from the managing agents because of complaints about noise and leaving fire doors open.

He was expecting to be evicted and had already made arrangements to stay with his family before he lit the fire.

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Hallett, of Harbour Road, Seaton, admitted arson being reckless whether life was endangered and was jailed for five years, four months, by Judge Peter Johnson at Exeter Crown Court.

He has already been banned from driving for 41 months by magistrates after admitting drink driving and leaving the scene of an accident.

The judge told him:"I have no doubt you started this fire deliberately using one of the lighters found in your room. The comments you made shortly before show your drunken motive for doing so.

"There was a very great risk to life. All 17 residents lost their homes and irreplaceable personal belongings and the damage to the building was considerable. Three flats were essentially gutted.

The aftermath of the fire in Seaton (Image: Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service)

"It is impossible to put a figure on the loss, disruption, distress and inconvenience you caused. People were put out of their homes suddenly that Sunday morning. Their lives were turned upside down.

"Despite the commendable benevolence of the local community, it was a frightening experience which will live with them for a very long time."

Miss Rachel Drake, prosecuting, said Hallett had been drinking with friends at the Royal Clarence pub on the night before the fire and went on to play cards at one of their homes.

He got very drunk and emotional and was thrown out in the early hours. He crashed his Fiat Punto into a wall at around 5 am and injured his hands and arms.

He returned home at around 7.20 am, telling a neighbour who let him in that he didn't like living there. The fire started in the nest 11 minutes while he was in his flat alone.